List of 4 news stories.

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  We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

  5/7/2024
  The SMLS community recently gathered together for our annual Founders Day celebration - an opportunity look-back, acknowledge our past and honour our 133-year history. It was a thrill to welcome back alumnae, to acknowledge our Legacy Families, and to join together as a whole school for a look-back at our remarkable history. 

  
  

  SMLS is a place where empowered women emerge and a good part of that is because of our forward-thinking, trailblazing founders, Sister Emily Ayckbowm and Miss Ruth Lightbourn. These two women had visions of a future for girls that was better than what existed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They both had a commitment to progressive and innovative education, social justice and a concern for society, all of which remain hallmarks of an SMLS education today. 

  
  

  Today’s Millies enjoy incredible opportunities - workplace experience in a range of industries, global citizenship experiences, leadership development and so much more. These opportunities exist because of the strong women in our history who have, over time, challenged world views, fought for education and for equal rights, and persevered in the face of adversity.

  
  

  It is a privilege to celebrate Founders Day - a day to recognize and give thanks to the women who came before us and to celebrate the opportunities we can create for empowered women to keep challenging and transforming the world.
  
  We extend a very warm thank you to everyone who joined us for this very special occasion!
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  Impact of Giving

  4/29/2024
  SMLS's 2024 Impact of Giving report is out now! We invite you to read through and see all of the great ways our donors are supporting SMLS's ambitious vision to see more women empowered to challenge and transform the world. 
  
  Giving plays a very special role at SMLS. Our supporters' gifts make our unique learning environment designed for girls possible. Each day, our students benefit from our community's generosity.  

   

  Within this report are examples of how philanthropic support of SMLS fuels the work we set out to achieve every day on behalf of our Millies. We hope you enjoy reading how gifts are enhancing the educational experience for our Millies, empowering girls and young women, and helping to create a better, more equitable future.

   

  The world needs more empowered women. You make that happen with your support of SMLS. 
  
  View the 2024 Impact of Giving report here. 
  Read More
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  Century Celebration

  4/15/2024
  A group of passionate alumnae who attended Miss Lightbourn’s School in the 1960's has invited former students of Miss Lightbourn’s School, a pioneering school for girls, in Oakville, to attend a special 100th anniversary celebration and reunion that will take place at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School on Friday, April 19th at 4:00 pm.

   

  “As far as we know, this is the first reunion of alumnae who attended Miss Lightbourn’s School since the school was founded by Miss Ruth Lightbourn in 1923,” says Debbie Scott, a volunteer Class Representative for the Class of 1965. “We know it’s a moment in history to be celebrated, and have undertaken the challenge to find and contact as many alumnae as possible.”
  Read More
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  Addressing the Dream Gap: The Role of All-Girls Schools in Shaping Girls' Futures

  4/9/2024
  I recently came across a powerful video created in support of Mattel’s Barbie Dream Gap Project, a global mission dedicated to closing the gap that’s created - and perpetuated - by typical gender stereotypes and biases. The video is a strong call to action for all of us to be champions and role models in the lives of girls and to create the kind of environments that allow girls and young women to reach their full potential.

  
  

  As the video highlights, the Dream Gap does not derive from a lack of confidence, skill, desire or drive in girls. Rather, the Dream Gap exists because of the stereotypes and biases that exist even in today’s modern world. To me, this is the true value of a girls’ school - a girls’ school provides the girls-can-do-anything environment from the very beginning of a young women’s learning journey and keeps nurturing that mindset as she continues to learn and grow.

  
  

  Critics argue that the all-girls environment does not reflect the real world, and therefore limits girls’ experiences and readiness for life after school. I challenge that by addressing the significant advantages in reaching girls early and often - before the dream gap can even begin to take hold in their bright, young minds. 

  
  

  With built-in opportunities for role modeling and mentorship, girls schools naturally and easily create a positive environment that is conducive to high aspirations and lifelong success. At SMLS, the senior students and our active network of alumnae all over the world serve as direct sources of inspiration and examples of success, and we know from research that when young girls see themselves and their lived experiences represented in the workforce, that is when they begin to believe that they can be, and can do, anything. 

  
  

  This is important and directly relevant to addressing the dream gap that exists in today’s world. Consider that most of the graduating classes at SMLS in recent years have seen at least half of the students going on to study STEM-related programs - fields of study such as engineering, computer science, and business. These are fields, which, on average, lead to better outcomes in the labour market including employment, job matching, and earnings. More women in these fields, earning as much, or more, than their male counterparts is how we close the gaps in access to opportunity, wage disparity, and girls’ ability to turn their dreams into reality. 

  
  

  Closing the dream gap requires a collective effort and systemic changes to be sure. Instilling confidence, fostering mentorship and championing diverse pathways to success are all part of the collective work toward gender parity. This is the work that girls’s schools take on every day, delivering it straight to the people it benefits most - the young women of today, and the future leaders and trailblazers of tomorrow.